The Novels of Samuel Richardson: The history of Clarissa Harlowe

Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady was first published in installments between 1747 and 1748. It emerged from the mid-eighteenth-century fascination with the epistolary novel, a form Richardson pioneered to achieve psychological intimacy and moral intensity. The work was crafted to serve as both a gripping narrative and a cautionary tale regarding the social constraints placed upon women of the period.

The physical volume represented by this ISBN is a scholarly edition from the University of Michigan library collection, which serves to preserve the text for historical study. These editions typically prioritize the integrity of Richardson’s original multi-volume structure, reflecting his intent to immerse readers in the slow, agonizing unfolding of Clarissa’s tragedy. While Richardson’s contemporary reception was marked by intense emotional responses from readers, modern scholarship views the work as a foundational pillar of the realist novel tradition.